this was a very busy week for dave, and we both expect things to only get busier in the weeks and months to come. everyday dave is out the door by 815 to catch the tram to take him to school for 9. he has classes all morning and most afternoons and after class stays at school for another extra few hours to get some work done. so most evenings i do not see him until after 7 or so. on tues. evening he decided to stay at the school for the entire evening as he was feeling behind. unfortunately tues there was a strike and the trams were on a limited schedule. well when he went to the tram stop at midnight to come home he found out his tram had stopped running altogether! so he ended up walking home - which took over an hour! when he got home and i woke up i asked him why he did not take a taxi - he said he didn't see any and did not have a number to call for one. my poor dave.
the students also got their first group project this week and were tasked with researching emerging space countries in groups. dave's group was assigned kazakhstan and this weekend again dave has been very busy working on his project. the assignment is due wed and on thur they present. so hopefully next weekend dave can have a few hours to enjoy some time off from school work - but we shall see!
i am so proud of him, he is working very hard and has committed himself to stay on top of all his work. if he slacked off i would see him more, but we find an hour here and there to spend time together.
this week was a very frustrating and interesting week for me....
i fell off my bike mon morning and went to the hospital with dave around 1. we live by the civic hospital, which is the biggest in strasbourg, so we obviously decided to go there. well we went to three different locations in this hospital seeking treatment for my arm and each place told us to go to the next. finally at the third place we were told that they do not treat arms there - just hands and wrists! we were so shocked - i started crying i was so frustrated! it would be like a winnipegger going to the health sciences centre and being told they do not treat arms! so we were then told to go to a hospital in Illkirsch, which is the area where isu is located. we took the tram there and waited about an hour to see a doctor (now this is a vast improvement from hsc in winnipeg as the wait would have been MUCH longer!). the doctor asked me where it hurt and i said my elbow - she then said they do not treat elbows there, they only treat up to the forearm!!!! thankfully she took pity on me, as i started to cry again, and called a colleague to see how to proceed. they did an x-ray and found that the bone was fractured and proceeded to put me in a plaster cast. they said i would only be in this cast a week, so i go back tomorrow to see a specialist and most likely will be put in a fiberglass cast - but i am not exactly sure, i will find out tomorrow! a lovely girl from the church is coming with me tomorrow to translate as dave cannot come with me because he cannot miss anymore class. so with her help i will find out what the treatment plan is for my arm!
All through my school years i wanted to break my arm to get out of gym class - particularly if there was a big fitness test or we were in a unit i hated, i.e. volleyball, baseball, ringette, etc. yet i never succumbed to such an injury and was not so desperate as to seek it out by throwing myself down a flight of stairs! but here i was, happily riding my new bike, loving being active in this beautiful european city and i fall off my new bike and break my arm! i was not impressed.
so i am ashamed to say that the early part of the week consisted of me feeling sorry for myself and being angry at having to wear a cast and be limited in the day to day things that i do. i am surprised at how much anger i felt over this injury and how it affected my life.
midway thru the week god really pressed upon me how much i have to be thankful for and that my whole attitude was focused on the one unfortunate thing that had happened when in relation to that one thing i had a million other things that were so positive. even in regard to my arm, i have come to be thankful as i could have just as easily hit my head instead of my arm (as i was not wearing a helmet) and never recovered.
yes, it is frustrating that i cannot cut food when cooking, wash my own hair with ease, pluck my eyebrows with my right hand any longer, but wow, it is so not the end of the world... in fact there have been some very funny moments (i.e. trying to carry my umbrella in the crook of my cast pressed against my body and having it stick out so far that i could not walk thru the bus door despite three efforts!)and it has been an eye opener for me. i am always surprised at how quickly i take for granted things in my life and how quickly i get angry when things like my health are compromised. i definitely have a why me? attitude - like i deserve special treatment or to have some fairy tale existence that is not real life.
when these thoughts creep in and take over i am always reminded of my best role model, my mom, and her response when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. she said why not me? i have a loving family that takes care of me, a great group of friends who support and pray for me and the resources to not have to work to survive - so why not me instead of someone else who would not have such support & resources? what an amazing response, eh?
with this teeny tiny injury and its associated bumps along the way i hope that god is shaping me and teaching me to be more like my mom and to learn to always be thankful for what he has given me. in this situation i have medical insurance that covers all the costs, i have a wonderful husband who washes my hair for me and cooks when i need to rest my arm, new friends who have offered any help they might give and so many of you at home who have sent me well wishes and just reminded me of how many great people i have in my life!
so besides my internal struggles i have had a pretty interesting and busy week out and about. on wed i looked after the two little girls for the day - we spent 10.5 hours together and we all survived! we coloured, played house, played littlest pet shop, went to a french animation movie in 3D, ate breakfast and lunch and just generally got to know each other a bit. there were some challenging aspects to the day but overall it was good. in the weeks to come i will be looking after the oldest every mon after school and both of them on wed. there is no school on wed for younger kids in france, hence why they need a babysitter! however, in the future on wed the girls have art and dance classes so i will pick them up at 12 from there first class and go for lunch with them until their second class at 1:30 and then from 2:30-6:30 babysit them at home until their parents return from work. this past wed was different because their classes had not yet started so they needed to be looked after the whole day from 8-6:30. so on wed. in the future i can still sleep in!
on thur i started volunteering at a bilingual school, helping in the preschool. i met some adorable little boys and girls and had a fun, but exhausting day with them! all but two of the preschool kids come from french families and thus are only starting to learn english - so communication was a little difficult. however there was one very chatty englisg speaking boy from bangledesh so i stayed close to him and enjoyed him so much! the day was spent singing, learning english, doing crafts, playing games, going to the park and eating lunch. unfortunately my cast prevented me from helping the kids with a lot things, i.e. putting on shoes and paint smocks, but they were all fascinated by my cast and thus i think liked having me there! at lunch it was kind of funny that i needed the lunch lady to help me spread my camembert cheese on my baguette - so i felt just like the preschoolers i was sitting beside!
so at this school they do their lessons in french mon and tues and in english on thur and fri so over the year i will be volunteering there on thur and fri when i am not in french lessons or travelling.
this week on friday i decided to stay home from preschool and rest my arm as it sore, so i spent the day in the apt reading and resting. in the evening however, i joined dave at isu as they were hosting a tarte flambee night. it was nice to see everybody at the school again and visit with them! we all sat outside and had freshly cooked tart flambee over open fires. at one point the international space station flew overhead and we were able to see its light in the night sky - as you can imagine this was a very exciting moment for all the space
on sat i took the bus over to germany and did some shopping there while dave did his school work. in germany they have some cool stores and some different things to look at. it was odd to hear german instead of french and i realized i did not know any German other than danke! i did manage to order myself an ice cream cone though and by "order" i mean i pointed at the type of cone and the type of ice cream i wanted! but it was delicious and cheap - 90 cents!
in the evening i made another awesome green thai curry, with dave's help for all the chopping! i tweaked my usual recipe and was very happy with the result! later i felt self-indulgent so i went downstairs to il girasole and purchased authentic homemade italian tiramisu. wow - it was amazing! eating that and drinking a nice glass of wine made me sigh and be glad to be in France with an italian deli/bakery downstairs!
today we went to church and enjoyed visiting and meeting new people. this week women's bible study and home groups start so i am excited to be involved in those. this afternoon and evening dave and i are going to try to spend some time together and maybe enjoy some of the warm weather strasbourg has been favoured with!
thank you everyone for the emails, facebook posts, etc! i just appreciate all of them so much! a special thank you to my sister kristen who emailed me everyday this week to check in on me and see how i was doing even though she had a very hectic and busy week herself!
Hey Heather!
ReplyDeletePraying that your arm heals quickly, and with minimal pain. Glad to hear that you were able to change your outlook on your situation. It's not an easy thing to do but worth it.
I am glad that you have found activities to keep you busy over the next year. Rachel and I were at Dancing at Broadway last night and we thought of you. You would have loved it :-)!!
Missing you and sending you hugs across the miles. Sending them to Dave too!
Love ya,
K
hey heather - great to hear all your news - glad that God is using your broken arm for His glory in your life - that's just like Him to take our difficulties and turn them into means of grace!
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